


Weathering storms

by risinggreatness



Series: Circle 'round the sun [10]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-18 00:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2328950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risinggreatness/pseuds/risinggreatness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owen muses on father and son (companion piece to Take the poison of your age)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weathering storms

Owen has a bad feeling about Anakin Skywalker.

When the whistle sounds the end of the work day, Anakin is gone. He is allowed the freedom to run off to Anchorhead, and so he does. Every day. Owen resents him.

The Lars Homestead existed long before pa brought Shmi Skywalker and her son to the moisture farm. It will exist long after they are gone if Owen has anything to do with it.

When they first arrived, Owen did not know what to make of the Skywalkers. His father never owned slaves before. Owen was fourteen; Anakin was nine.

It soon became obvious to Owen why his father purchased them: he intended to free them. He did free them. He freed them and then he married Shmi.

She’s a nice woman, kind and gentle; Owen likes her very much and even calls her ‘ma’.

But Anakin… well, farm life doesn’t suit him. Compared to the commotion of Mos Eisley, the homestead has little to offer in terms of excitement. This, above all things, frustrates Anakin, and by extension Owen.

They get along well enough, but they aren’t anything beyond stepbrothers. Neither understands the other: Owen has no inclination to leave and Anakin has no desire to stay.

Owen values hard work and loyalty. He is gruff and not very well-spoken. That suits him just fine, even in the harshest of Tatooine’s conditions. He is able to handle its shadier characters and weather its storms.

Anakin is a dreamer, the kind of person who gets fooled by the sands. The kind who thinks they’ve found solid ground, but when they try to kick off, sink.

He comes back from Anchorhead with a head full of stories: far off planets and misadventures of the scum of the universe. His head is never where he is. The way Anakin talks of the future and leaving Tatooine, one might be fooled into thinking he could be that lucky.

He was that lucky once: he was freed. What more can he expect?

Anakin was eleven when he started working in Anchorhead. His mother, of course, was apprehensive about letting her son travel to the outpost so near to the Jundland Wastes, but he persuaded her. Once he secured a mechanic position in Anchorhead’s sole, seldom-used landing bay there was no stopping him. It placated him a little, but he didn’t stop looking out to the stars.

Owen thinks they indulge Anakin too much. He’s not careless in his work, he’s just too eager to be away. When sandstorms prevent any sane person from traveling, Anakin risks his life and pushes through. He can’t sit still.

For the most part, he doesn’t get into trouble. But, on occasion, a friend of the Larses informs them Anakin’s gotten into a fight. Anakin has a temper which can’t be contained. Pa goes to Anchorhead to collect his stepson. Occasionally, Anakin gets dragged back and the low-life will demand compensation.

Nothing is ever said of these incidents and Anakin returns to Anchorhead the next day.

Owen spots two figures through the desert haze. When they are easier to see, he is puzzled to see Anakin returning early. He fears the worst.

“Pa! Ma! Anakin looks to be in trouble again!” he shouted.

Pa and ma come running; both concerned and exhausted. Anakin’s run into trouble twice since the start of the season; it’s getting difficult to make excuses for him.

The three of them stand together awaiting the arrival of Anakin and the mystery figure, dreading what it will cost them this time to keep him out of any more trouble. But there is something different about this man.

From a distance they can clearly see he is tall and broad-shouldered; there is a humble dignity about him. Unlike any of the villainy who’ve dragged the boy home before, he stands straight. Nor is he actually dragging Anakin. The pair walk side-by-side, as equals.

At fifteen, Anakin nearly matches the man in height.

The pair meet the trio outside the homestead; Anakin introduces them to the stranger, “Mom, Cliegg, this is Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.”

“Your boy has kindly offered me shelter for the night while my transport is repaired. I do hope it is not of any inconvenience to you,” the man explains.

A mixture of relief and surprise spreads across ma and pa’s faces.

Ma extends her own hospitality, “It is no trouble, Master Jinn. Please come in, supper is almost ready.”

Supper is a quiet affair. Master Jinn is polite and speaks with pa and ma while Anakin pushes food around his plate and Owen watches.

It is not often the Lars family has guests, but that can’t be why Anakin is uncharacteristically silent. Clearly he had no reservations about inviting the stranger to their home. Why the sudden inability to speak?

“Thank you for the meal, Mrs. Lars. It will be a long while before I have another as pleasant as this, but now I must come to my true purpose for being here.”

There is a sharp intake of breath as all three Larses look toward Anakin.

The Jedi seems to take no notice of the sudden change in the air, and continues, “My business on Tatooine took an unexpected turn and I found myself in Anchorhead by chance. I met Anakin in the hangar bay; he was fighting with a drunken pilot.”

He pauses a moment to drink from his glass of Bantha milk. Ma shoots her son a look of disappointment and Anakin continues to shift the food around his plate.

Owen feels for his stepbrother, but there’s something else mixed with Anakin’s shame. A tiny hint of hope and excitement is hidden in his expression.

“Some dispute over the bill for the repairs of his ship. It is not my concern and I do not condone it, but I sensed something about your son I couldn’t ignore. His reflexes were astounding; every punch thrown by the drunken rodian was easily evaded. The rodian was not so lucky.”

Pa slams his fist down on the table, “What are you trying to say, Master Jedi? My stepson is a good lad, even if he can’t control his temper! But we certainly don’t congratulate him for being the better man in a fight he shouldn’t have been a part of in the first place!”

Only the Jedi is unfazed by pa’s outburst. The spark of hope and excitement in Anakin flickers, but remains.

“I do not mean to praise the boy for engaging in a fight. I only mean to say the Force is strong with Anakin, unusually strong for one lacking in formal training. I came here not for shelter, but to ask your permission to bring him to Coruscant to become a Jedi Knight.”

The Larses are thrown back, but Anakin Skywalker is not. Excitement blazes in him.

“This is what tonight is about,” Owen thinks; sure pa and ma are astonished too.

For the first time, Anakin speaks, “Please. Let me go with Master Jinn.”

To anyone who doesn’t know Anakin, it might sound like begging, but Anakin doesn’t beg.

“I’m going with or without your permission, but I’d rather have it. I’m grateful for everything that you’ve done for me and mom, sir, but I can’t stay here. I’m never going to be a moisture farmer and there’s no point trying to turn me into one. You know I’m a lost cause.”

Pa nods. Nothing more need be said between them.

Anakin turns to ma. “Mom, this is my chance.”

“Then you must go,” ma replies, her eyes wet.

“Then it is decided,” the Jedi declares. “We must leave by the dawn of the second sun. Go and pack your things, Anakin.”

Just like that, the discussion is over. No one asks Owen’s opinion.

It’s true; Anakin’s not cut out to be a farmer. But Owen can’t understand how he can just turn his back on everything: his mother, the man who freed him, the family they became. They gave him everything and now he’s repaying them by leaving. It is a betrayal.

But he supposes it was always there, that urge to abandon everything and run.

Anakin Skywalker never found solid ground on the desert planet. He touched a star and pulled himself away. He runs to the sky and never comes back.

\----------

Ben Kenobi sits in the Larses’ kitchen. Owen is seething.

Five years ago, when Luke’s mother died, the fool promised to keep his distance and not interfere. But this is the desert’s idea of a joke: to trap him here until the sandstorm passes.

It isn’t uncommon for moisture farms to receive travelers during the worst of Tatooine’s conditions. The hospitality of moisture farmers is depended on by most, but this is one traveler Owen doesn’t want anywhere near his family.

In the years Owen has known Ben Kenobi, he’s never been able to understand what kind of a man he is.

There are times when the wizard looks at Luke and his face flickers with adventure and regret.

Owen never asks, he doesn’t want to know, about the relationship between Kenobi and his stepbrother. But the way the man looks at Luke, it is plain he doesn’t belong on this planet anymore than his stepbrother had.

Only Kenobi’s been consumed by the desert and helps it along by burrowing deeper into the sands.

 _Let him_ , Owen tells himself.

The less time he spends with Luke, the less influence that dangerous part of Kenobi will have on the boy. And just maybe the boy won’t follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I thought you were going to stay away,” Owen grumbles.

“So did I.”

He may not have a Jedi’s keen observation, but Owen can tell Kenobi is no happier to be here than he is to have him.

For several strained minutes, the two men exchange glares. It isn’t that Owen dislikes Kenobi; the man just represents everything he wants to protect Luke from.

His heritage. Pain. Suffering. That dangerous urge to leap.

Their silence is interrupted by a knock. Both men look in the direction of the door. Luke stands on the threshold, as if Owen’s thoughts summoned him there. No doubt, the boy was on the Jedi’s mind too.

“Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru is looking for you,” the ten-year old says.

“Run along and tell her I’ll be there soon,” Owen instructs, but Luke’s eyes are fixed on Kenobi.

Owen hopes Luke was too young to remember the last time Kenobi visited.

It is a short lived hope. Luke speaks directly to the Jedi, “You look familiar. Are you from around here?”

“No. I’m from a long way away.” If there is one thing Owen can count on, it is for Kenobi to remain discreet. But the mask Kenobi hides behind is failing.

“I’d like to go a long way away someday.”

 _There it is; that urge._ It is not completely unexpected, but it leaves a bruise. Perhaps Luke could have been different from his father. He could have taken to moisture farming. Maybe, like ma, he could have found a home here.

 _Leaping from sand only leads to sinking_.

Owen wants neither for his nephew. He knows from experience a Skywalker can’t stay grounded forever, but letting him leave would be as bad as delivering the boy directly into the arms of the Empire.

It will be devastating to watch Luke lose all his hopes and to watch him be consumed by the wasteland, but it is too dangerous.

Taking Luke’s shoulders, Owen shepherds him from the room, “Go and tell your aunt: I’ll be there soon.”

He practically has to push Luke to get him out. Owen presses the button to close the door once Luke is safely on the other side.

“There is much of his father in him.” Kenobi looks sad.

 _“Too much of his father in him,”_ Beru reminds him every so often.

Beru only met his stepbrother a few times before he left, but the impressions were strong. Luke is too much like his father and it worries Owen. They won’t be able to protect him if he takes off.

“But there is much of his mother, as well,” Kenobi says, as if it is meant to be reassuring.

Owen never met the woman and the only things he knows about her are: she married his stepbrother, a man supposedly sworn to celibacy, and she died attempting to visit her son. Two reckless acts. To Owen she doesn’t seem any different from her husband.

“What have you told Luke about his parents?”

“His father was a navigator on a spice freighter during the Clone Wars – died before he was born. His mother – died in childbirth.”

Kenobi shifts to rest his hand under his chin, “A plausible fabrication. And what of his sister? What does he know of her?”

“Nothing. And it will stay that way, so long as you keep your mouth shut.”

“I have no intention of telling him anything you do not want me to tell. But there will be a day when we can no longer hide from the truth.”

“Something you foresaw,” Owen scoffs.

“No. I don’t possess that level of perception, but the way the Force surrounds the boy something is bound to happen, and we won’t be able to stop it. The harder we try to protect someone, the harder it is for us to realize we can’t. A reality, even after discovered, we can’t accept. Surely there was something more we could do, could have done…”

Kenobi loses himself in his clouded mind.

Owen has nothing more to say to him, “You can show yourself out when the storm passes.”

Down the corridor Owen finds Beru; they discuss the need for a protocol droid, one that speaks Bocce. It’s a necessity, but they can’t afford one right now.

He finds himself wandering the homestead. The Jedi is not the only one lost in his own head, and without realizing it Owen is outside his nephew’s room. He peers inside.

Luke is tinkering away with one of the old moisture vaporators, something Owen would often see Anakin do.

 _Too much of his father in him_. He worries about it constantly.

Too soon, Luke will be old enough to choose what he wants to do. And he’s already set his sights beyond the horizon.

Owen has a bad feeling about this.

**Author's Note:**

> See author bio for discussion on this 'verse.


End file.
